Fade
by stargaze29
Summary: You can only push someone away for so long before you realize they can't wait forever.


**Disclaimer:** I do not own Victorious, just this story plot.

**A.N.** I was listening to this song while thinking of Jori and this scenario kind of popped in my head. I feel it kind of goes with how I feel that Jade is just back together with Beck because he's safe and familiar, but in turn she's letting the one she truly wants slip away. Tori always had a thing for Jade, but she never thought she had a chance with the way Jade's attitude about her always flip flopped and how Beck seemed to be the only one on her mind. Not cool, I know, but hopefully you guys enjoy this little songfic overall. : ) I used that 2012 Teen Vogue photo shoot Victoria Justice did as inspiration for Tori's appearance in this fic. Here we go. : )

...

Los Angeles, June 2015

It was a cool night in June at a fair in LA. A nineteen year old Jade West stood grudgingly awaiting the arrival of her boyfriend. She huffed and pulled out her cell to call said M.I.A. bf.

"Beck, where are you?...What? !...But you were the one who suggested this!...We haven't seen each other in six months!...I understand...No, it's fine...July it is, I guess...You too...Bye."

The dark haired girl clicked 'End' on her phone, staring at it solemnly before placing it back into her pocket. She quickly shook off, more like buried; the sadness that once again wanted to consume her as of late and went to walk back to her car, only when she moved her body collided with another's.

"Sorry." "Oh, sorry." said both, collidees.

Each looking up at once, when they heard what they thought was a familiar voice.

"Tori?..." questioned Jade softly, because the girl standing in front of her looked so different than the girl she remembered from their graduation party last summer.

Her hair was in an edgy mohawk, a small hoop earring was pierced at the top of her left ear; she was wearing a light brown leather jacket, a white and black v-neck graphic t-shirt underneath, dark blue skinny jeans, and brown boots.

"Jade?..." questioned twenty year old Tori Vega as she came face to face with a girl she had not spoken to in almost a year, but had definitely not forgotten.

Her highlights were gone, but other than that the goth looked just as Tori had remembered her. She was wearing black of course: black leather jacket, black v-neck tee, black jeans, belt, boots, and the raven necklace Tori had gotten her as an early birthday present last summer.

"How have you been?" asked both girls when they came out of shock, laughing at their synchronized reactions.

"You first, how's Juilliard?" asked Tori, putting her own cell phone away.

"It's...It's been amazing. I love being able to really focus on my writing." said Jade, excitedly. "And what about you, Ms. Princess cut her hair off and got a new piercing? !" said Jade, as she unconsciously ran her hand over the shorter hair on the side of Tori's head. "I guess you just went buckwild on tour didn't you?"

The past year Tori and Andre had been offered to go on tour with a major artist, Jade had been accepted into Juilliard, as well as Beck but he was offered a huge movie roll last minute, Robbie and Cat were also in the NYC at NYU.

Laughing, Tori ran her hand through the longer hair of her mohawk; "Yeah, I guess you could say that. Nah I just woke up one day on tour and just decided that I wanted a change, and it kinda grew on me I guess. The piercing happened after a dare from Andre and Alex." She answered.

"Who's Alex?" asked Jade, with a smile.

"Oh uh, here..." said Tori, pulling out her cell again.

She went through her phone pics, Jade laughing at some of her and Andre being goofy, her and other people from the tour, and then she finally got to one picture with her and a pretty blonde smiling for the camera. The pale skinned girl was gripped by a sudden jealousy as she took in their embrace. Tori held the blonde from behind, with her chin on her shoulder, while the other girl's arms were on top of hers and her head was rested against Tori's as they sat on a stage at what looked like a rehearsal.

"That's Alex...my girlfriend..." trailed off the half-Latina.

Jade actually felt a stab of pain from the words she just heard.

"Wo-Wow...girlfriend, uh..." She managed, forcing herself out of her state of shock. "She's pretty." Jade continued, forcing a smile.

"Thanks." replied Tori, with a nervous smile, as she rubbed the back of her neck. "Yeah, she was one of the dancers on the tour. We got to talking and hanging out all the time, and then one day I just asked her on a date and believe it or not she said yes." She finished.

"I believe it..." said Jade softly, almost letting her sadness bleed through. She kept it in check and in true Jade West fashion, tried to shrug it off. "I mean I _can't_ believe it, but only for the fact that Ms. Goody Two-Shoes switched teams." She teased with yet another fake smile.

"Yeah whatever, well this 'good girl' can be very bad when she wants to be." said Tori, being playfully seductive.

"Ooooh..._really_?" answered Jade, playing along.

"Oh yeah totally." said Tori with mock seriousness, getting them both to laugh once more.

When their laughter died down, both of them shared a look that had them both averting their eyes from the feelings behind it.

Clearing her throat, "So...how are you and Beck?" asked Tori.

Jade could have sworn she saw a hint of hurt behind the tan girl's eyes, but figured it was just what her mind hoped it was.

"We uh...We haven't really been able to keep in touch over the past six months. Me with school and him working on the movie...But everything's great." answered Jade, as convincingly as she could.

'That was supposed to be convincing? ! I am you and even I'm not buying it._'_ thought the goth.

The raven haired girl continued, however, even with her own thoughts against her.

"He's the reason I'm actually here right now. We were going to meet up, but uh turns out he's still needed in Vegas so..." She finished as nonchalantly as she could.

"Yeah my date is a no show as well, or more like is being held hostage by her sister. That's who I was just texting." explained Tori.

Jade nodded and both young women had a moment of awkward 'Well, what now?' before the pale skinned girl decided that maybe it was time to head back to her empty family home.

"Well uh, I guess the fair is a no go..." began Jade, but she was interrupted by Tori.

"Well it doesn't have to be..." suggested the half-Latina. "Yeah, I mean we're both already here. Seems like kind of a waste to walk away from a perfect night at the fair. What do ya say?" asked Tori, with a smile; the same charming smile that used to, and apparently still did, drive the raven haired girl in front of her crazy.

'Go home. Just tell her that you'll see her and the rest of the gang later and walk away._'_ thought Jade, knowing it was for the best but the ache her heart felt at the mere thought of walking away begged her to stay. _'No..._Huh, I tried to save you._'_

"I say, there's a funnel cake with my name on it." answered the pale skinned girl, ignoring her better judgment.

"Well alright Ms. West, questionable rides and greasy food here we come." said Tori, offering her arm to the other girl before they made their way up to the fairgrounds entrance.

_I want to hold the hand inside you  
I want to take a breath that's true  
I look to you and I see nothing  
I look to you to see the truth  
You live your life  
You go in shadows  
You'll come apart and you'll go black  
Some kind of night into your darkness  
Colors your eyes with what's not there_

Once inside the fair, the two young women ran around like a couple of little kids; dragging each other excitedly along hand and hand and simply enjoying being with the other.

_Fade into you  
Strange you never knew  
Fade into you  
I think it's strange you never knew_

They got on ride after ride; there was funnel cake, fried oreos, laughter... Currently Tori was concentrating as she got ready to attempt to throw her last ball into a milk can. Jade covered her mouth to stop from laughing at how adorably serious the half-Latina looked as she readied her toss.

"I got this...I so got this..." tosses the ball toward the can, it bounces off the edge of the top. "I don't got it." She concluded dejectedly.

"Awwww...Well look at it this way, your throws weren't completely terrible." teased Jade, laughing at the look of mock anger that was sent her way.

"Well let's see what _you_ got." challenged Tori.

"Step aside amateur, step aside." said the goth, not being able to resist a challenge.

Tori did as she was so 'sweetly' instructed. Jade decided to pay for only one ball, the tan skinned girl couldn't help but smirk at the raven haired girl's cockiness; something she would not admit to the other girl was how much she had missed it. The dark haired girl carefully aimed and then tossed the ball with ease perfectly into the can.

"Oh come on!" said Tori in awe; a smile on her face as she shook her head at the girl's, of course, perfect toss.

"It's all in the wrist my darling, all in the wrist." replied Jade, with a smirk; laughing at Tori's bow of respect to her.

"What prize would you like?" asked the girl, running the booth.

"Umm..." Jade looked at all the stuffed toys and stuffed animals she could choose from when her eyes landed on an adorable regular sized brown rocker teddy bear with a mini mohawk that looked like he would be the perfect companion for a certain tan skinned girl and her new 'do. "That one." She answered.

The girl handed her the little guy, and then Jade simply turned and handed him to Tori.

"Oh, what? But you won him?..." said Tori, confusedly taking the bear.

"For you...I thought you guys could rock out with your hawks together." answered Jade.

Tori had a strange look come over her face as she looked down at the stuffed toy in her hands; she cleared her throat and then thanked Jade with a grateful smile. The raven haired girl simply waved off her gesture and quickly suggested a new game. They settled on the water gun game. After a couple rounds of losing to little kids, Tori was finally victorious, and claimed a light up pair of nerd style glasses as her prize.

"And here you go..." She said placing them on Jade's face, who laughed and thanked her.

Moments later Jade was giving chase to Tori after the half-Latina made the teasing comment about a hot nerd coming through. The chase came to an end after being reprimanded by a grumpy old security guard. The girls were still laughing about the incident as they continued their walk through the grounds.

"_Hey! You two youngins cut that out!_" mocked Jade with her perfect old man voice and finger point. "And then this is just where I was frightened for my life. _You're not too old to be put over a knee._ I mean how ancient is that? !" She said, meanwhile Tori was holding her sides because she was laughing so hard.

"Ok, ok stop please..." laughs a little more. "Oh, check it out." said Tori, after she recovered; She led them over to a photo booth.

Both took a seat inside the booth and saw that it allowed for six shots a session. After paying for them, they began their modelesque poses; settling for two pics of them just smiling normally, two posing with their prizes, and two with them doing whatever. Once they were done, they received their new printed strip of pictures from the machine and aww'd at the first and forth one and laughed at the other four.

"I think you better take this half, considering Beck at least knows the girl's face you're kissin' all on in the picture." said Tori as she carefully tore the strip in half and gave the half with a picture of Jade kissing her on the cheek while she made a surprised face, to the goth.

It's sad but the mentioning of her boyfriend actually brought Jade down from her high.

"Hey, you ok?" asked Tori, noticing the slight change in the raven haired girl's face.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." replied Jade reassuringly.

Tori simply nodded and they continued their walk, soon finding a little courtyard area to sit and rest.

"So what do you have planned for tomorrow Ms. Jade'ems?" asked Tori, as she lounged back on bench they claimed.

Laughs at how Tori said her name, "Nothing, which is fine with me; I'll probably be in my pajamas all day watching teens be mutilated by scissors." answered Jade, with an evil smile and making a scissor cuts with her fingers.

"Oh!" said Tori, sitting up quickly. "I'm so glad you said that! Wait here. I gotta run to my car real quick and I shall be back." She finished in a Terminator voice, as she pointed at Jade before she left the raven haired girl wondering what in the world she could be going to get.

Now that she had a moment to herself, Jade reflected on the night and could not keep the smile off her face. She took off her glasses and turned them off, chuckling at them before she tucked them away in an inner jacket pocket. She had not had this much fun in awhile, and as much as she wished she could attribute most of happiness to where they were; she knew that the cause of the sudden comforting warmth she felt was because of who she was with. When the gang had split up after they graduated Hollywood Arts; Jade would admit that she did miss their crazy little group of friends being all together, but what she never fully admitted to herself was how she began to ache for a certain tan skinned girl's presence after only a short time of being apart.

'She could have been yours. That Alex chick is one lucky... _Stop! I love Beck and he loves me... _Yeah, ok...but is it enough?..._'_ thought the goth.

Jade simply huffed and ran her fingers through her hair, trying to clear her head, and then she rested her head in her hands.

_A stranger's light comes on slowly  
A stranger's heart without a home  
You put your hands into your head  
And then its smiles cover your heart_

Jade used her remaining alone time to rein her out of control feelings in. Moments later an out of breath Tori Vega came lightly jogging back to their little nook in the courtyard, with…a poster?

"What do ya have there girly?" asked a confused Jade.

"Wouldn't you like to know." said Tori mockingly, only to laugh as Jade swatted her on the leg. "Ow. You know that is no way to treat your soon to be bestest friend ever ever ever ever…"

"Ok! What could possibly be so magical that you decided to break out the random cardio?" asked Jade with smile.

"So you know how a certain movie franchise did a special press tour for its re-screenings this past October?" asked Tori.

"Yeah…" answered Jade as she stood up, keeping her giddiness in check, not wanting to become too excited until she knew for sure that she and Tori were on the same page.

"Well on Halloween our tour was stationed in New Orleans and guess who else was there? !" asked Tori.

"Tori!" said Jade; never really being one to be patient.

Laughs at the goth's impatience, "Check it out chica." said the tan skinned girl.

Tori unrolled the poster which happened to be a limited edition poster for the movie The Scissoring, signed by the members of the cast; one signature in particular caught her eye.

'_Always wonderful to hear of a fellow lover of sharp objects. Happy scissoring Jade. – Tawny W. B.'_

The actress who played Tawny also signed her real name as well.

"Oh my God…" said Jade in shock as she took in the poster's greatness.

Jade so would have gone to the press stop in New York, but she couldn't get away from school.

"You…You got this for me?" asked the raven haired girl as she continued to stare at the poster, as she carefully took it from Tori. "The line must have been insane."

"It moved fast and besides you were worth it. I meant to get it framed, but I didn't get a chance to. Actually I got some pics I have to send to you…" said Tori about to reach for her phone.

All Jade heard was 'you were worth it' and she lost all control over her better judgment. She put the poster down on the bench before pulling Tori into a fierce hug.

"Whoa." Laughs, "I take it you like it, 'cause the Jade West I remember never volunteers hugs." said the tan skinned girl as she returned the embrace.

"I love it." murmured the goth into Tori's shoulder.

'_And I love you.'_ She added in her thoughts.

They slowly began to loosen their embrace, but did not completely let each other go. The two were now face to face; both having feelings of wanting what they knew they couldn't nor shouldn't have. When Tori began to loosen her hold; Jade's rational thinking completely shut off, as her right hand grasped the back of the tan girl's neck and pulled her into soul igniting kiss.

_Fade into you  
Strange you never knew  
Fade into you  
I think it's strange you never knew_

A deep moan left both young women as three and a half years' worth want and need came out all at once. Jade's hands took hold of Tori's face and neck, while Tori's gripped the pale girl's waist and the back of her shirt; each pulling the other as close as possible. Their tongues exploring, savoring the taste of one another's mouths because they both knew that once the seal of their lips was broken; the moment would be as well. The need for oxygen had never been more hated than the second their lips had to part. Gasps filled the night air, as their foreheads touched and their eyes met in looks that said so many things, 'Wow', 'Amazing', 'That was everything I could have hoped for and more', 'Why the hell had we not done that sooner? !'. They were just about to give into the pull again, when Tori's cell began to ring in her pocket. If it had been anybody else she probably wouldn't even had registered the phone ringing, but it was the certain person's ringtone that knocked her back into reality.

'_Alex...'_ thought the half-Latina, as she came out of the haze that had clouded in her mind. _'What just happened?...'_

Tori broke her and Jade's embrace and collected herself as much as she could before answering the call.

"Hey, babe…No, I'm fine…I'm still at the fair. I ran into a-a friend…Pizza is fine…I'll be there soon…Ok...Love you too…Bye…"

Tori hung up she had never felt such conflicting emotions before. One hand she felt like shit, she just kissed another woman who was not her girlfriend and Tori was not an advocate for cheating; but the blue eyed girl next to her affected her in a way that scared her how much it consumed her.

Speaking of a blue eyed girl, Jade was having her own internal conflict. Part of her felt bad for having feelings someone other than her boyfriend, but the other part of her never felt freer and more true to herself; that free feeling only lasted so long after overhearing Tori's phone conversation.

'Just because you kissed her doesn't make her yours._'_

That thought sent a shot of cold emptiness through her core, so did the look of painful conflict on Tori's face because Jade knew what it meant and she wanted to cry.

"Tori…" said the raven haired girl softly.

The half-Latina just shook her head and waved off the goth's apology, knowing she was just as in the wrong and part her that had been buried for so long did not feel sorry; but another part of herself had grown since she last saw the dark haired girl before her, and that part of her belonged to Alex.

"It's gettin' kinda late. Are you ready to head out?" asked Tori, with a weak grin.

Jade simply nodded and picking up her gift before the two made their way silently out of the fairgrounds. Once they made it out both girls paused on the sidewalk, staring out at the street and the surrounding city; neither willing to break the comfortable, safe silence.

"You know the gang wants to get together sometime next month?" said Tori, still looking ahead.

"Like Cat would let us forget." replied Jade, with a small smile.

"Ha, yeah." said Tori in agreement and with a smile of her own.

"So July?" said Tori, finally turning to face the dark haired girl next to her.

Jade turned to face Tori, once again getting lost in her pools of warm brown.

"July it is, I guess." She said softly, trying to keep the shakiness out of voice.

Jade moved in for another hug, happy that Tori even let her; both girls melting into the embrace once more, taking in each other's soothing scents before pulling apart completely. The two shared one last look at one another, both of their masks beginning to fail.

"I'm this way." said Jade softly, pointing behind herself.

"And I'm this way." replied Tori, nodding her head behind herself as well. "…Bye, Jade." She said softly, trying to lighten the heavy mood by waving her bear's hand in farewell.

The gesture did manage to make the raven haired girl in front of her let out a slight laugh.

"Bye..." said Jade.

There was a loaded pause before both turned away from each other and began walking in their opposite directions. Jade shoved her right hand into her pocket, only for it to come in contact with her half of the picture strip. She took out the small piece of photo paper and looked it over once more; the tears she had been barely holding back finally fell. Placing the torn strip back in her pocket, the pale skinned girl wiped her eyes; feeling herself slip slowly yet seamlessly back into the coldness she was so used to, blocking out the world as she faded into the city streets.

_Fade into you  
Strange you never knew  
Fade into you  
I think it's strange you never knew  
I think it's strange you never knew_

…

**A.N.** The song used in this story is "Fade Into You" by Mazzy Star. I can't believe the last ep of Victorious is tonight. Huh, now that I've depressed myself further. - _ - I know this was kind of angsty, I blame it on my no more Victorious blues, but some reviews from you guys is a good way to recover. :) I have been receiving some great anonymous reviews or reviews from people who do not have accounts and I would like to say thanks so much to you reviewers as well, since I can't thank you guys directly. : ) Thank you for reading. Till next time guys. ^ _ ^

Also, I finally found a site to post the Elitoria (Vic/Liz) story I wrote and had posted on here, but it was taken down. The story is called 'Everything Will Change' and you can find it on my Archive of Our Own profile, which I posted a link to on my FF. net profile page. If you go check it out and like it, don't be shy to leave a comment; even if you're a guest on the site. Thanks. : )


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